THE HISTORY OF THOROUGHBRED RACING IN AMERICA

The story of throughbred racing in America as related by Mr. Robertson is essentially that of the great horses themselves. He trots out their pedigrees and performances from the pre-Revolutionary days, when New Market in New York was the original center of organized racing, to the present day, with racing power still centered here. The Revolutionary to Civil War period saw the importing of Medley, hark, Messenger and Diomed; between the Civil War and World War I, dash racing supplanted heat racing, and the selling pools gave way to pari-mutuel. Racing hit ock bottom in 1933, saw new prosperity in 1946 -- Mr. Robertson keeps a weather eye on the circumstances of the times. The great names of racing, equine and proprietary humans, are here with much chatty, personalized information. The book closes with John Hay Whitney's speech at the Throughbred Club of America on October 17, 1963.